The Fearless Critic Austin Restaurant Guide

Brutally honest, cheeky, and fiercely independent, the Fearless Critic is the definitive restaurant guide to the Austin area. Acclaimed critic Robin Goldstein has teamed with a secret panel of local critics to create a 416-page blockbuster of a book. The critics dine incognito, accepting no free meals and no ads from restaurants. Prepare to be shocked by the results: this is a new breed of food writing.

The book includes more than 400 brutally honest reviews, rigorous grades (with no grade inflation), and helpful cross-referenced lists that cover every corner of Austin's eclectic dining scene, from the power steakhouses to Hill Country BBQ shrines, wine bars to breakfast taco stands. It's an essential reference for anyone who eats out in the Austin area, including Bee Cave, Cedar Park, Dripping Springs, LakeTravis area, Lockhart, Marble Falls, Oak Hill, Pflugerville, Round Rock, and the Hill County.

Alexis Herschkowitsch is the coauthor of five Fearless Critic restaurant guides and a contributor to Fodor’s travel guides. She is a graduate of the University of Texas and has a WSET advanced wine and spirits certificate.

Robin Goldstein is author of The Wine Trials and co-author of The Wine Trials 2010 and The Beer Trials. He is a contributor to the New York Times' Freakonomics blog, and has written for more than 30 Fodor's travel guides, from Italy to Argentina to Hong Kong. He has an A.B. in neuroscience and philosophy from Harvard University, a J.D. from the Yale Law School, a certificate in cooking from the French Culinary Institute in New York City, and a WSET advanced wine and spirits certificate.

Monika Powe Nelson is an Austin native and daughter of Pacific Northwest transplants. She spent some of her palate-forming years in the Hawaiian Islands, as well as some long summers in France, making her crave brisket, lefse, fresh fish, and stinky cheeses in equal proportions. Monika is a graduate of both the University of Texas at Austin and the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. She spent 14 years as a professional chef both in Austin and California. Monika currently resides in the Hill Country.

Rebecca Markovits is a member an increasingly rare species: the Native Austinite. She left town briefly for her undergraduate studies at Yale, where she learned to love the pizza pie; and for an M.Phil. in English Literature at Oxford, where she soaked in rain and curries. When Rebecca gleefully returned to Austin, she put all of her education to good use by sitting around and eating. She currently lives in South Austin.